Apartment Kitchen Basics: Part Two

Apartment Kitchen Basics: Easy Ideas To Boost Your Cooking Skills

It is worth investing serious time into learning cooking, regardless of whether or not you are dining alone or feeding a family. There are a number of benefits to cooking in your apartment, both nutritional and financial. These tips can help you out on all aspect of cooking.

Store herbs and spices in an area that is cool and dark. If light, humidity and heat are present, these items will begin to lose their flavor. When properly stored, ground herbs and spices can retain full flavor for up to a year. Spices that come in the whole form will keep their flavor for around 3-5 years. If you keep these properly stored, they can sometimes stay fresh for an even longer period of time.

Your meat need to be sliced thinly across the grain when you are preparing stir-fry. Some people find it difficult to cut the meat thin, but it is very important. When the meat is not quite frozen, take it out of the freezer and slice it against the grain at an angle of 45 degrees.

Keep all spices stored out of the sunlight. If you leave them out somewhere, you will expose them to light, wetness, and heat, and it could ruin them. Try to find a cool, dark cupboard if you want to increase the flavor and lifespan of your favorite spices. These fresh spices will help add flavor to your meals, making them tastier!

Try adding oil to foods from the sides of a pot or pan in able to jump-start the heating process. This will help to maximize the flavor of your food when you are done.

The overall quality of vegetables is affected by the length of cooking time. Though slow cooking is popular in some cultures, the process actually eliminates important nutrients and renders the vegetables tasteless. As an added benefit, these techniques tend to produce healthier vegetables in general. When you know how to cook vegetables in the least amount of time possible, you will enjoy better tasting and nutritious vegetables.

Do you regularly cook with freshly grown basil? Place some basil in a clean glass. The stems will then need to be covered with water. Keep it on the kitchen counter and it should stay fresh. Many times the basil will root if the water is changed regularly. By picking leaves you will encourage the basil to put out new growth. This will ensure that you have fresh basil on an ongoing basis!

Cooking In Your Apartment

If you need to season your meat, prepare a small portion and taste it prior to cooking the entire amount. Certain foods like hamburgers, meatloaf and meatballs have certain kinds of seasonings. Season it mildly before you make the entire meal. Cook a bit of the mixture before you continue to cook the entire batch to ensure that the seasonings are correct. After you have tested this piece, you can adjust the level of seasoning as necessary or cook the rest as is.

Apples turn ripe in the early fall; therefore, they should be stored in a cool, dry place. To avoid rotting, store apples in open-mesh bags or baskets in a cool basement or in the produce drawer of your refrigerator. Keep checking on them though, otherwise one rotten apple will spoil the bunch in no time at all.

To maintain a vegetable’s quality, cook it quickly. Vegetables that are slowly and thoroughly cooked, are less tasty and nutritious than vegetables that are cooked briefly. In addition to these beneficial results, the overall effect is also serving vegetables that are healthy and more nutritious. You should only cook them just as long as it takes for them to be done.

There are benefits to having the ability to cook. The tips above are useful for cooking many kinds of dishes, including gourmet dishes, comfort foods, and traditional home cooking. While going through the drive-thru is convenient from time to time, nothing beats a good home-cooked meal!